Wheat gluten protein properties from fermented dough storage at subfreezing temperatures

In this paper, gluten proteins in fermented dough were taken as the research object, and the variations in their physicochemical properties after storage at subfreezing (-9 °C, -12 °C) and − 18 °C were compared. The soluble protein concentration (beginning: 20.77 mg/g; end of storage: 14.21 mg/g at -9 °C, 11.88 mg/g at -12 °C, 9.38 mg/g at -18 °C), water holding capacity (beginning: 5.13%; end of storage: 3.28% at -9 °C, 3.02% at -12 °C, 3.77% at -18 °C), emulsifying capacity (beginning: 50%; end of storage: 47% at -9 °C, 45% at -12 °C, 46% at -18 °C), foaming capacity, and foaming stability of gluten protein decreased as storage time increased at different temperatures. Wheat gluten protein showed an increasing trend in oil holding capacity and emulsifying stability. There was no significant variation in wheat gluten protein quality between the subfreezing storage group and the − 18 °C storage. The sulfhydryl disulfide bond and SDS-PAGE results showed that storage temperature had no significant effect on oxidative denaturation and subunit content of gluten protein. In brief, subfreezing storage can effectively maintain the quality of gluten protein close to -18 ℃.